8/25/04

Dead Ringers (a defense)

Dan Salitt: Well, about performance, for one thing. I like Jeremy Irons in other films, but I feel as if he's just sending big semaphore signals in those two performances, which are conceived as opposites of each other to the point where little else comes over to me.

Dead Ringers has a lot of problems with its script I agree, but I didn't feel that way about the performance(s). Seems to me Irons played out the differences obviously to hide the fact that they were very similar.

It's something identical twins tend to do among themselves; having the tendency to be close and to look alike, they play up their differences to the point of exaggeration. The similarities are there, but they're almost like subtext--something neither twin willtalk about or even admit to unless forced.

And the similarities are there--that image of the two walking across the room using the same gait is more than just a visual joke, it's a revealing insight into their true psychology; when they're alone (I mean with each other), when they're not aware of trying to be different, when they follow their natural instincts or are half zonked out by drugs, they're exactly alike. Even the way they carry out dialogue between themselves is different from dialogue between other people--it's like one man having a conversation with himself.

Oh, I found Irons in Dead Ringers eerily accurate and honest. Even asked my identical twin brother (who's fond of movies too), and he agreed.

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About Me

Philippine cinema has its share of gold and manure, artists and poseurs; because the average Filipino film costs a little over US$250,000 (in 2004 currency) and is usually shot on a stretch of about twenty shooting days (or less), the manure is often more odious than what passes for commercial filmmaking in Hollywood nowadays; on the other hand, because budget and schedule are often so small and tight, the rare gold nugget found seems all the more impressive, bordering perhaps on the miraculous. Thanks to those nuggets, I still believe in miracles.